


Born To Die

by WalkingRevolution



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Caesar's Legion, Drama & Romance, F/M, Hoover Dam Battle (Fallout), Independent New Vegas (Fallout), Inspired by Music, Mutual Pining, NCR | New California Republic, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:47:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26282161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WalkingRevolution/pseuds/WalkingRevolution
Summary: A description of the growing friendship between Courier Six and Craig Boone. Can he truly love someone like he loved Carla? Will the Courier's past prevent her from a happy future? Two walking emotional disasters cross paths and can't deny that they feel something between them.
Relationships: Craig Boone & Female Courier, Craig Boone/Female Courier
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Born To Die

He’d always been a cold and rigid man. The NCR toughened him up, helped him build his walls. He was good at killing. Good at hunting. The Legion plucked their way throughout the wasteland, murdering and torturing and burning. Boone needed no excuse to end their lives. He basked in the bloodshed; in the thought that he was helping to purge the land of its dangers. He had no mind for romance. No gentle bone in his body. Then he met Carla and she helped him see the softer side of life and himself.

That love was like a fairytale. Blissful in the beginning, full of light and laughter. After the move to Novac, they had their fights and arguments, but the love remained. As much as Carla despised the place, she would stay, and she’d do it all for Craig. Maybe he was planning on leaving. Had he known about his child, maybe he could have taken Carla somewhere safer. But that was all in the past. His wants, hopes, and wishes for a family that didn’t exist anymore.

When he met the Courier, he’d planned on traveling to Legion territory. He promised himself that after the woman helped him find his wife’s murderer, that he’d fight to his death killing Caesar’s Legion. After he shot Jeannie, he planned to finish his shift then head out to his death. But the Courier saw through his pain and his initial cold demeanor. She was doing her own quest for revenge at that time and saw a bit of herself in Boone. Maybe that was why she asked him to travel with her. Or maybe she was just tired of being alone. To her surprise, he agreed, and off the unlikely duo went into the wasteland. 

The Courier was an odd character. She hardly slept and she despised the Legion as much or if not more than Boone did. She always tried to listen to both sides of the story, but when it came to the Legion, she automatically condemned them. Boone didn’t mind really, he figured she’d help him achieve his end goal. During their travels he thought of Carla every time they stopped to rest. He missed her but he never showed it on his face. It didn’t matter anyway, because from the first moment he’d met the Courier, she had the ability to see right through him. 

Out of all their travel companions, she was the only one who could tell with one glance what he was feeling. Arcade knew how to get under his skin, which was a special talent of his, but the Courier knew… everything. Sometimes she would prod, but whenever she tried, she was always careful, walking on eggshells around him. He’d tell her some things. Then on the days he was feeling extra irritable or vulnerable he wouldn’t even speak to her, but she still knew. 

She was an enigma to him. Even after she told him about her past. Most people in the Mojave had clear intentions. They wanted to survive, and they were usually loyal to whatever territory or faction they were born into. But Six was different. She worked for the NCR for the greater good, but never hesitated to voice her opinions on their mistakes. It was a difference in opinion that caused her and Boone to argue from time to time, but it never reached a breaking point. There was never a time where he wanted to leave, even after their disagreements. She had her opinions and he had his. They never really apologized for making the other angry, but they never really needed to. The Courier knew Boone had her back and he knew that she had his. 

The only time he ever really can recall when she apologized to him was at Bitter Springs. It was before the Legion raiding party attacked, the night they stayed at Coyote Tail Ridge. He’d wanted to stay for the night and think about what he did there so long ago. The mistakes of the past stung. They all added up in his mind, pushing him to end his life. He craved that end. His bloodlust for the Legion consuming him as his regrets pushed him forward. The Courier, Lucy was her name, had gripped his arm and waited for him to look at her. 

“I can’t help you fix the past,” She told him, “and I’m sorry for that. I know you think you have to… end things, but I hope you find a reason to stay.” 

It was part apology and part something else. Hope? He’d felt a pull at his chest when she said those things and it shocked him so much he almost missed the raiding party that was about to ambush. They made it through. Lucy stayed and helped him defend the camp, and after it was done, he felt this bittersweet tang on his tongue. This was supposed to be his end. But he survived and he had not realized yet that he had found his reason to stay. 

Things changed between them after Bitter Springs. Lucy was not like Carla. She was not a New Vegas lady who regularly brushed her hair and wore those dazzling dresses. Jeannie had described Carla as a cactus flower, pretty to look at but terrible to approach. Lucy was no flower. She would not be described as beautiful in Vegas, amongst the whores and casino ladies who wore perfume and makeup and were barely touched by the Wasteland. Lucy was a warrior. A courier. She had scars and burns and hardly slept because whenever her head touched the ground she remembered when the barrel of a gun had been pointed there. She was a mirror to Boone. She had an allure to her, a keen wit in her eye, her wild red hair, her selflessness. Scars and all, with no perfumed skin or braided hair, Boone had come to see attraction. He knew he wasn’t the only one, too. 

When they went to the Tops to settle one of her past scores, he’d taken notice to how she fixed herself up. She’d spent the better half of two hours in the Lucky 38 shower, and she’d snagged a tight dress from one of her pals over at Gomorrah. She reminded him of one of those black widow spiders, dressing up to lure her next victim into a trap. He couldn’t help but look and feel… something. But this wasn’t the Courier Six he knew. This was a mask she put on, a character that she chose to play. This was the type of girl Benny would fall for and Boone had to stand there and watch as Lucy set her trap. 

It was an odd sensation, to feel territorial over something that wasn’t his. He clenched his jaw so tight it felt as if he’d welded his mouth closed. He looked the part of bodyguard but knew Six had a knife tucked under her dress for protection. Still, his fist clenched slightly when the Chairman ran his fingers beneath her jaw, when that sleezeball slid his eyes up and down her body as slow and languid as he could. 

Six had her prey in her grasp, she could taste the victory on her tongue, but she knew she needed to do this alone. She already knew when she turned to face Boone that he would not like this idea, and she’d been right. 

“I’ve got this from here, Boone. I’ll see you back at the Lucky 38.” She’d said, brushing a loose strand of red hair behind her ear, posing against the counter at just the right angle so that Benny could hold onto his patience. Boone narrowed his eyes beneath his shades before pulling them off to cast an unimpressed look at Lucy. 

“I don’t trust that guy. He’s trouble,” Boone started, moving his glance from Lucy to the man who had shot her in the head. “Whose to say he won’t try to shoot you again?” He asked, and his throat bobbed at the thought of her dying, but he ignored that pounding in his gut to stare at her in stilled earnest. 

“Oh, he will most definitely try to shoot me again.” Lucy confirmed to Boone’s semi-restrained horror. “But now I’m expecting it. I came to him.” She emphasized, the point not helping her argument for Boone. She’d sighed at his glare and dropped her mask just for a moment. “I need to do this, Boone. I need to know what he knows.” She gripped his wrist and leaned in closer, he could smell the remnants of mints on her lips. “I have to –” She started, but suddenly could not find the right words. But Boone understood. Sometimes when you catch up to the past that you were chasing, you just had to do something about it. He didn’t approve of it, but he nodded. “I get it. I’ll see you back home.” Then he’d turned on his heel and went back to the rest of their companions and could not stop the rapid pounding in his chest. 

She came back the next night, the chip in hand and information on how to destroy House. She never did tell Boone what happened to Benny, and he never asked, but he could tell that part of her wondered what life would be like if she had been the Chairman’s girl. None of it mattered then, because she was there again, and he’d let that hurt he felt go. 

Their travels together changed. It was the same Mojave, the same Vegas, but both Boone and Lucy were different. He understood what he’d felt that night at the Tops. Jealousy. A deep, wanting ache. He knew she knew. There were nights where he’d just lay out under the stars and contemplate telling her something. He didn’t love her like he loved Carla. He didn’t think he could ever love anyone like that again. But he could not deny that his heart beat unusually fast whenever Six was near him, or the fact that he dreaded the times when they had to go back to Vegas and couldn’t be out together in the wastes. 

The Courier herself was torn. She’d had a deadly fascination with Benny, a guilt pleasure that was just so wrong it felt even more right. But Boone, Boone was a survivor like her. Running from his past when she’d met him. They helped each other do their best to right their wrongs. When they met, she could practically feel his pain and she wanted to heal him as best she could. That’s how she got her band of misfits. She found the lone wanderers in the Mojave who were neither good nor evil, people who were running from their past trying to make a better future. 

She knew she helped Boone. She knew he’d stay to see the end of the Legion. She promised to take him with her when she stormed Caesar’s camp. That’s when he finally decided to tell her. It was after she climbed through the heart of his base, had killed the legionnaires stationed there, and finally reached the tent of the great Caesar himself. She knew whatever she said to him would not be heard. The Courier had no mind to hear him out either, but she did, because that was the type of person she was. His story did not change her mind. She’d put a bullet through his skull and turned to Boone with a saddened look on her face. Caesar may be dead, but the Legion’s war was still coming and there were still secrets to uncover below the camp. 

When they made camp that night on the other side of the river, there was a stillness in the air that neither one of them knew how to break. The Courier had many thoughts on her mind, from the freedom of New Vegas to how she was going to get a war plane to float up from the bottom of a lake. But when she’d look at Boone from across the campfire all those thoughts vanished and all she could think about was him. 

Boone had caught her stare and wasn’t one to look away. They both knew there were unspoken issues between them. He tasted a confession on his lips but instead told her that he would take the first watch. She looked at him with tired, tender eyes and nodded her head, moving to lay back on her bedroll. She waited, staring up at the sky as he turned with his rifle in hand, sitting on the overlook watching for danger. 

The moon was high up in the sky when he heard her move. She stood behind him and with slow, gentle movements, she wrapped her arms around his chest, resting her forehead against his back. He closed his eyes for the briefest moment, bringing one hand to curl around the fingers clasped against his chest while the other held his gun by the strap. 

“I can’t stop thinking about you, Boone.” Six confessed, her voice low but the night still enough for those words to reach his ears. He felt another lurch in his chest and was sure she could feel the rhythm of his heart beneath her hands. 

“Six,” He started and heard a soft sound escape her throat that sounded like a quiet sob, but when he turned to look down at her face there were no signs of tears. She held onto the front of his shirt, staring up at him with a look that caused his knees to grow weak. He cupped her elbows with his fingers, drawing her closer until their noses touched softly. 

“I don’t know this feeling… but I need to be near you. Take me with you when you go to Hoover Dam.” 

She nodded and leaned closer to him, invited by the warmth of his skin. “Boone,” She whispered and closed the distance. He kissed her like he was never going to see her again. Soft and hard at once, and when they pulled back they both seemed to lean in again but could not bring themselves to do more. She brought her hands up against the rugged shadows of his cheeks and ran the pad of her thumb against his skin. He gripped her wrists reverently and leaned his forehead against hers. 

“I don’t know what this is.” He confessed; his eyes solemn yet so full of unmasked hope. 

“We can find out.” She suggested, glancing up at him. He felt as if she was holding his heart in her fist, squeezing down slower and slower. He was done with words but kissed her head and held her against his chest. “After House. After we take care of the Legion. We can figure things out.” And he was hopeful for the future again but felt the loom of death over him once more. Maybe it never left, but he’d look forward for the fight. The end of the Legion. And he looked forward to his time with the Courier. To what they would be when this was all over. 

The Battle for Hoover Dam would decide the fate of the Mojave for generations. Courier Six had her plan in mind since the day she found out what exactly the Platinum Chip truly was. She’d seen injustice given by the Legion, who she would leave no mercy for, and injustice given by the NCR, who she had called ally in her journeys. But they were two sides of the same coin. She saw a future for New Vegas that was not shadowed by the tendrils of either army, nor the control of Mr. House. 

Six saved the NCR president, she brought up that bomber for the Boomers, she recruited Arcade’s old friends, restored peace with the Khans, defeated the Fiends, killed Caesar and murdered House. There was just this last battle, and everything would change. The Courier and Boone made their way across the dam, shooting the last remaining Legionnaires, aiding the NCR against the slavers. They took a moment’s rest in the control center, the override chip in her pocket. She told Boone that she needed to do something, that he should rest up before they go out again and slipped away to the mainframe. 

Yes Man popped up on the screen and the Courier instructed him to move the power to the securitron bunker beneath the Legion camp. He’d warned her that the NCR would not agree with her decision, but what the NCR didn’t know couldn’t hurt them. Well, it couldn’t when she sided with them to help take care of the Legion, but she suspected that they’d catch on to a mouse in their software. Now all she had left to do was destroy the remaining Legion army and tell the NCR that New Vegas was independent and would not fall to them. 

The Courier turned on her heel to continue her fight, exiting out of the control room and into the narrow hallway. NCR troops were running through the corridors, heading out to fight, grouping up inside to hold off anyone attempting to come in. She stopped in front of the door and saw Boone with his arms crossed, eyes narrowed, a look of betrayal on his face that did not stay. 

“I thought you promised to help the Mojave. To let the NCR aid these people and establish a sanctuary here.” 

“I am helping the Mojave.” Six said, concern in her eyes but her voice was strong. This had been her plan from the beginning. “The people deserve to be free. If I knew for a fact that the NCR could help them, then I’d let them stay. But they’ll turn this into a military state. The Legion will keep coming as long as the NCR is here, and more people will die.”

“The NCR will protect them. As they have been since before you even set foot in the Mojave. I can’t support this, Six.” Boone gestured towards the screens with Yes Man’s face on them and the NCR soldiers running throughout the background. He looked hurt. Betrayed. But he spoke with controlled anger. “You’ve had my back for months; I won’t forget that. But I’m not going to be here when you take back the Dam. I’m not going to watch you betray the country I’ve dedicated my life to.” Six felt a lump form in her throat, she looked as if he’d slapped her across the face. She stepped forward, tilting her head. 

“What? No, you can’t mean that. You can’t turn your back on me now!” She felt the hot tears sting her face, felt the loss of his friendship, of their future. He knew how she felt about the NCR. He knew she didn’t want them to take control. How could he… how could he leave her now? At her most vulnerable moment. 

“I’m sorry, Six.” He told her, and for a moment his face did fall, and she believed him. But he turned his back on her and walked away, and she could not pick her jaw up off the floor. The shock of his betrayal kept her still as a ghost. She stood in that burning hallway as the rest of the NCR troops ran towards battle and the one person she felt truly close to abandoned her. 

“Boone,” She croaked but he did not turn back. “Boone!” 

BANG! 

Blood stained her fingertips, it seeped through his shirt and onto her clothes. She held him as he lay dying, or maybe he had been dead for a few moments now, but she still could not fathom what had occurred in the last few minutes. He was leaving. Abandoning her. After all that happened between them. After promising a future. He would leave it all because of the NCR. They dug their claws into him and locked his heart up and even Carla had known that her husband belonged to them before he belonged to her. 

The bullet went through the nape of his neck, hitting the top of his spine. He taught her everything he knew about sniping and shooting, about narrowing in on a target and taking the kind of shot that only required one bullet for a kill. She had grown better than even himself. 

Grief was a strange thing. It overcame her, blinded her. She couldn’t live without him. She’d said goodbye to so many people. She never wanted to say goodbye to him. The Courier held the body of the man she could have loved, she let his blood cover her clothes and skin, and when the grief subsided into a dull pain, she ran her fingertips down his cheek and along his jaw before she left him behind. She still had a war to win.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact, when I decided to bring Boone into the control room to make Yes Man take over the securitron army he decided that the NCR was more important than our friendship and I had to pause the game so I could sit at my desk and cry. 
> 
> Then I got angry and shot him and then I reloaded my save. 
> 
> Also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As30wy2meY8 slowed down version of the Lana Del Rey song. 
> 
> I was like 15 when I made this mistake in game and always wanted to write down the emotions my Courier was going through and I kinda went towards the fact that she became unstable after the battle at Hoover Dam and just wandered around the wastes. Not a very happy ending but I did it for the angst.


End file.
